Chapter 185. Childhood Friend – Monarch
An army losing a battle shows signs.
The evidence was clear throughout the camp. Soldiers, who should have been shouting confidently, were murmuring among themselves.
Amidst the slackening military discipline, suspicion and discontent spread, flags drooped, and even the tents were soggy.
Even seasoned soldiers who had gone through countless battles couldn’t help it. No one likes fighting a losing war.
Especially if the army was filled with inexperienced fresh recruits, the commander had to worry about a mass desertion.
“Damn it! So what about reinforcements? When are they supposed to arrive?! They promised to send mercenaries for now, and they haven’t sent even that. How are we supposed to hold the front line!!”
– Bang!
The Commander-in-Chief of the Orun Kingdom Army kicked the desk. An ink bottle spilled, and a few adjutants hurriedly picked up the pile of documents to prevent them from getting soaked.
They were all records of repeated defeats.
“What good are knights! They’re just a bunch of inexperienced recruits. Over there…”
Damn it.
While he blamed the recruits, there was actually a more serious problem.
Even untrained recruits can at least earn their keep if you give them armor and a weapon. They’ll struggle to survive in a brutal battlefield.
But the issue was that the enemy had increased their squad size. The Commander-in-Chief grasped his head in intense stress.
“Are they saving the magicians to make soup? They’ve only sent two… What? Two months?”
At this rate, they couldn’t even guarantee holding the line for two weeks, let alone two months. The frontline was continuously being pushed back, and for some reason, the death rate among the knights was alarming.
Especially on the eastern front. Already fifteen knights had fallen, triple the number of the northern front.
This was all because of the lack of magicians.
Because they lacked magicians, they couldn’t see the enemy’s moves while their own were exposed, leading to the deaths of knights.
The Knights Commander insisted that no way, knights always stay under trees or in bushes to avoid ‘cloud eye’ magic, but the Commander-in-Chief didn’t believe it.
How could four grouped knights be wiped out unless the enemy had prepared traps in advance?
The Knights Commander was definitely saying that out of petty pride.
“Um… Commander.”
An adjutant cautiously approached the irate Commander-in-Chief.
“The princes will be arriving soon. Shouldn’t you go to greet them?”
The Commander-in-Chief glared.
That was the root of the problem.
Earlier, upon hearing that the princes were coming, the Commander-in-Chief brightened, assuming that the reinforcements had finally arrived and asked for their numbers. The response left him fuming.
What the princes brought were a hundred knights. Probably valuable forces obtained by persuading some nobles who hadn’t yet joined the war…
But now, they needed soldiers! Experienced soldiers!
If they couldn’t strengthen their magic forces, they needed many soldiers instead. As the enemy had increased their squad size, they needed many squad leaders capable of flexible field response.
Yet the royal family hadn’t even sent Nevis guards. Despite their long training and immediate deployability, they refused to send them.
“Greet them my foot… Tell them to find their own way.”
The Commander-in-Chief didn’t move. Folding his arms and sitting back in the chair, he momentarily grumbled, until Prince Aeton, Prince Algeo of Lognum, and their entourage arrived at the tent.
The Commander-in-Chief was about to explode, but upon seeing the document Prince Algeo brought out, he sighed.
“I will take over command. From this moment, the Commander-in-Chief is me.”
That was Prince Aeton’s statement.
With the royal seal of the king on the transfer order, the Commander-in-Chief had no energy left for complaints. He was disheartened, realizing that this is how the kingdom falls, as he handed over his position.
In his heart, he wanted to leave it all and leave the battlefield.
But as a lifelong general, he couldn’t. Even if he buried his bones here, he felt an obligation to see how the kingdom fell and watched what the princes would do.
But then,
“Return some knights from the front. Form a special force. Send the knights with a few soldiers to the east and strike the rebel territories.”
“But we’re already being pushed back. If we pull out knights, the front will collapse.”
“As long as we lag behind in magical power, the front will keep retreating. Instead, we’ll use the knights to disperse the rebel consolidation. Hit the empty houses. Nobles fewer than forty… Five knights should suffice per territory?”
“…What about the front?”
The demoted Commander-in-Chief asked. After observing the princes for a few days, he realized they weren’t as foolish as rumored but still spoke with a concerned tone.
Prince Algeo of Lognum said coldly,
“We will increase our squad size as well. You said they increased to thirty? We’ll group ours into forty. We can make it work if we pull back and narrow the front.”
“What? No! If we group them like that, they’ll be exposed to magician attacks. There’s a reason squads have always been capped at ten. It’s a balance calculated between magician fatigue and inflicted damage…”
“It doesn’t matter. Whether we die by the hands of a magician or by fighting thirty heavily-bound enemies, it’s the same death. We just need to last for two months. When the front lines collapse… the command will retreat.”
Ah, they are madmen. The General thought these princes were out of their minds. He exclaimed, fluttering his beard.
“Instead, call for more magicians! Why aren’t the Nevis guards coming? What about the soldiers currently in training?”
The princes didn’t even flinch. Instead, they confidently replied.
“There’s no need to focus on this petty battle. The fate of the war will be decided in the capital, Nevis.”
* * *
Sigh…
Prince Leo returned to his tent and let out a sigh. He dismissed the guard who had followed him with a “Good job. You should also go rest now.” Then, he sat at the table.
A mountain of documents.
These were petitions raised by generals, lieutenants, staff, and nobles in the midst of the war. Supplies and logistics plans that required urgent attention, reinforcements, scattered battle results, and damage reports all awaited his approval.
And that was not all.
There were also the military surgeons’ demands for more medical personnel, complaints about the illegality of conscription in occupied villages and towns, issues like the daily occurrences of insubordination and dealing with deserters, conflicts over command replacements, and disputes among armies led by nobles.
There was no end to the documents the Supreme Commander Leo had to handle. These were the matters that his lieutenants and staff had escalated after dealing with what they could on their own.
Leo had no time to lie down his weary body. If he didn’t address these issues quickly, they would surely grow worse.
He clutched his throbbing forehead and scribbled with a quill. The flickering candlelight made the scar on his face appear deeper.
The war was progressing smoothly. With reinforcements failing, the enemy kept losing strongholds and was pushed back, and Nevis was not far. They had taken advantage of their large number of knights to attack the fiefs of nobles who joined the rebellion, but their unity remained unshaken.
Thanks to Lena.
It’s been more than ten months since the beggar siblings… no, “I” started moving. My sister was growing at a frightening pace, turning into a truly beautiful woman.
Her cheeks, visible through her flowing golden hair, were mature, and her eyes held firm resolve. Her neck, still white and slender, was erect, and her full chest lifted her top.
Lena was no longer just a girl. She wasn’t merely a lovely princess. My sister… was becoming a sovereign.
To win this war, it was as if she understood the role she had to play. Lena shed her dress and donned a sturdy uniform, traveling across the regions.
She persuaded neutral nobles, convinced the commanders to betray their masters, and just by showing her face to the citizens, greatly assisted in conscription.
Leo placed the quill down briefly. He recalled the dignity Lena had shown at the recent meeting.
“You must not return.”
The noisy tent had quieted at the princess’s resolute voice. Her golden eyes flashed, quelling the nobles’ unrest.
“If you scatter and return to protect your fiefs now, should we lose the war, you will be annihilated eventually. We must not waver.”
“Are you saying we should leave our fiefs to be raided?”
A noble, though still discontented, spoke among the now calmer group. He no longer turned red with excitement as before.
Lena bowed politely.
“I do not know. Please forgive my ignorance. However, there are excellent generals here. Some of you have already had your fiefs raided, and others fear it happening, but please trust our generals.”
Lena turned her head. Following her gaze, the nobles’ eyes met the senior officials, including the prince. In the silence of calmed excitement, Leo realized he was being tested.
This was the stage his sister had set for him.
If he showed a disgraceful appearance here, the hard-assembled army would be torn apart.
“We don’t have many knights.”
Everyone knew it, but disappointment still flashed across their faces. Leo punctuated the sinking mood.
“However, we have an overwhelming superiority in magical power and numerous elite troops. I will send magicians to these elite troops. Although we can no longer act in the eastern fiefs… I apologize. We will hold the fiefs to the north and northeast.”
After finishing his words, Leo showed an expression of sincere regret. He gestured toward the Marquis Guidan, the Eastern Border Duke, who had likely suffered the most significant losses.
His second fief had been ravaged, losing contact with the city of ‘Bospo’, where the lord’s castle was, along with the surrounding fiefs.
The knights who had slipped around the front line had slaughtered the commanders and officials guarding the fiefs. They might have declared the region a free city with a new commander installed as a royal knight.
Fortunately, the Marquis Guidan held up both palms. Other eastern nobles also seemed to have no words to retort his stance.
Seven wizards left the camp. Each led approximately a thousand soldiers and headed to the northeast to stop the knights disrupting the rear. Although their loss might hamper the war situation, it was necessary. It was better than having the nobles take their soldiers and knights and leave. If the rebellious nobles stuck together, they could still attract those who were undecided about which side to support. Each noble wasn’t just a source of military support but a measure of how much of the kingdom’s support the rebellion had.
After all, numerous noble families formed the kingdom. Lena smiled faintly. She gave a secretive wink, which reassured Leo as if it were a sign of having passed a test.
Leo, recalling the recent events, fiddled with the pen he had set down. He hadn’t thought deeply in his relief earlier, but now it felt like they were doing something wrong, despite hearing Minseo’s thoughts from Lev. Lena was already an excellent monarch. Despite their efforts to put Lev on the throne, it somehow felt like they were barking up the wrong tree.
‘Would it have been easier if we left things to Lena? This is ‘raising Lena,’ not us being the protagonists.’
But in this childhood friend scenario, Leah is Lena. But she… wants to become a priest. What a ridiculous contradiction. Lev decided to ascend to the throne to solve this twisted situation. By elevating Leah’s status and fulfilling Minseo’s desired outcome, and since there was no law against a princess becoming a priest, Leah would achieve her wish.
Leo shook his head to dispel the doubts. It was only confusing because the scenarios got tangled after meeting Lev. The childhood friend scenario and the beggar siblings scenario were different. The reason there was potential for his sister to become a great monarch was because the beggar siblings scenario involved striving to reclaim [bloodline].
In a scenario where nothing is given, it would be troubling not to have any talents. It was regrettable that this realization didn’t come sooner…
Leo picked up the pen again. He read and signed each document, occasionally writing letters. The signed documents were stacked beside him, and among them, he noticed a familiar name in a sentence.
– Viscount Bakari, who supported the eastern supply route, died.
Among the mountain of papers, there was no time to mourn the viscount’s death. He felt a momentary sense of regret for the old viscount, but that was all. The document soon became buried among other papers.
